UConn men’s notebook: Isaiah Whaley takes advantage of rare playing time with best game of season

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MEMPHIS — Dan Hurley had been telling Isaiah Whaley the prior few days to be ready for UConn’s AAC tournament-opener against USF.

Of course, Whaley had heard that before, and it usually didn’t result in much playing time. But he felt things might be different this time.

“I don’t know if he knew something I didn’t know,” the wiry, 6-foot-8 sophomore said. “I felt like he really wanted me to be ready (Thursday). I just took that and told myself to be ready.”

Sure enough, with 11:35 left in the first half, starting center Josh Carlton on the bench with two fouls and backup Eric Cobb ineffective in his place, Whaley popped off the bench. Over the next couple of minutes, he notched a steal, then slammed home a missed Jalen Adams layup for a dunk.

Whaley later banked in a 15-footer and by halftime had six points and four rebounds. He finished with eight points and four boards in 11 minutes before fouling out. And if those numbers don’t jump off the page at you, they matched his career-high for scoring and his season-high for rebounding, and surpassed his season-best in minutes.

“It feels good,” Whaley said. “I’ve been just sitting on the bench and watching, I didn’t get to get out there and help a lot. So, being able to contribute feels good.”

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Whaley played 30 games, starting 12 of them, and averaged nearly 14 minutes per game last year as a freshman. But it’s been tough for him to find playing time this season, riding the bench entirely for 10 games and not seeing more than seven minutes in any contest since UConn’s season-opening win over Morehead State.

Whaley was sidelined by a high-ankle sprain in the preseason and was still bothered by the injury a bit in the early parts of the season. Meanwhile, Carlton emerged as the AAC’s Most Improved Player and Cobb, a senior, as his back-up, delivered a few big games against high-level teams (Syracuse, Iowa, Arizona).

“It’s tough,” said Hurley. “(Carlton) is a guy we are trying to build with, short-term and long-term. Eric earned that back-up spot ... you want to give the senior their crack. So, we’ve stayed with Eric as kind of the back-up behind Josh.”

Through it all, Whaley never outwardly seemed to complain.

“It’s been tough, especially after I went down early with my ankle and fell back in the rotation,” he admitted. “But the whole time, I was trying to keep myself ready for moments like this and stay positive and motivate my teammates, get the best out of them.”

In fact, Whaley believes the lack of playing time made him stronger as a person.

“If you can go through this mentally, you can come out better for it,” he said. “I’ve been taking this like a positive thing. If I get through it mentally, I’ll be better.”

Added Hurley: “Isaiah is a such a high character guy and he’s a pretty smart player. We tipped him off the last couple of days. I know these guys have been talking to him. I know Jalen (Adams) talked to him about being ready, and Pork Chop was ready today.”

LONG DISTANCE RUNAROUND

When UConn went 0-for-15 on 3-pointers in a 60-58 over USF on March 3 at Gampel Pavilion, it was the first time in nearly a decade the Huskies had failed to make a single trey in a game.

And that was with Ray Allen, the most prolific 3-point shooter in NBA history, in the crowd.

Flash forward to Thursday and the Huskies couldn’t have been much hotter from long distance. UConn hit 9 of its first 11 3-pointers, setting a new AAC tournament record for 3-pointers in a half. The Huskies’ field-goal percentage of 67 percent (14-for-21) also established a new league tournament mark.

The Huskies wound up hitting 13 of 24 treys for the game. Christian Vital tied the AAC tourney record with six.

“Especially when it is do or die and you see everything going in the hoop like that, it’s a great feeling, you build so much confidence,” said Adams, who went 3-for-7 from distance. “So I was happy for my teammates.